Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 RedThree Bites the Dust

As all have said, very glad to hear you're OK!

I wonder if the physics of a (any) 3-wheeler cause it to naturally become more unstable in hydroplane conditions? A 4-wheeler has one more contact patch, so as long as 2 wheels are making contact, it will continue to go straight, relatively speaking. Even in a car however, hitting deep water will throw the vehicle around a bit. In a very light car with only 3 contact patches, I could imagine that the dynamics get dicey very quickly in deep water.

Would be interesting to see if other three-wheeler communities have experienced similar things. I would think the Slingshot would behave the same, perhaps even worse with its wider tires.

When I spun off at Oulton Park in torrential rain a couple of years ago, one of the 'old hands' said I would have done better with a narrow tyre at the back instead of that 'fat thing' which will just aqua plane.
"A narrow tyre will cut through the water and find grip".
Wise words .....

Now where is that rear wheel quick change mechanism ?

But a narrow tyre will oversteer with much less provocation..dry or wet..

Bottom line is you can't change the laws of physics. Any tyre will push standing water ahead of it, and ultimately ride over it if it's either not heavy enough to prevent that happening, or it happens slow enough to allow the water to move out of the way.

Tyre tread depths and sipes in tread allow for water clearance at higher speeds, but physics still applies..

Physics also provides the reason why, if the rear tyre loses traction, the car will always rotate, one reason why Morgan fit a large car tyre to the rear wheel to prevent that under normal driving I guess.

Only just picked this up. Sorry to hear about your accident Calum. At least you are ok!

Under certain circumstances, narrow tyres are less likely to aquaplane as the contact pressure is higher.

A parallel would be the abysmal performance of wide-tyred modern cars on snow.

I recall a race in VERY wet conditions where the 1930's ERA's left the 1960's F1 Lotus for dead. All down to tyre width.

Glad you are okay. If I run into any rain I will have to remember to be careful.

Does anybody know if the early (original) M3W's suffered from this serious and dangerous handling problem if one front wheel hits a patch of standing water, or is it only a symptom of the new 5 speeders?

Not aware of that Keith.
But as is being discussed...the early cars had v narrow rears.
Maybe that's the difference.

I should add that in spite of my concerns my M3W was remarkably stable at the front ...not so the rear!

Possibly due to the driver !

Late to the party (again), but flippin' 'eck Calum, that sounds a bit of a dicey incident, even for a seasoned adventurer as your good self. Very very glad you're OK. All this chat on here about the (rather too obvious) dangers of tricyle-ing make me very pleased that Mrs R1NGA doesn't subscribe to TM.....

I am aware of a few old three wheelers that have rolled due a punctured/deflated rear tyre.